He continued his studies in the Philosophy department of the University of Athens, where he acquired his Ph.D. in Humanities. He then continued his education in Germany.

Eulogios participated in the Greek struggle with the Bulgarians for Macedonia during the first decade of the twentieth century. During the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, he was in charge of 100 armed men, among them many priests, that fought for Greece in the area of Chalkidiki, the peninsula in northern Greece that includes Mt. Athos. In 1912, Albania gained independence and recognition by the major powers of Europe.

On April 17,1937, the Church of Albania was recognized as autocephalous by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which, after an agreement with the Albanian government, selected a number of well educated religious personalities for key positions in the Church of Albania. Among them were Panteleimon (Kotokos) as Bishop of Gjirokastër, and Eulogios (Kourilas) as Bishop of Korca (Korytsa).[2]

After the Italian and German occupation forces were forced out of Albania at the end of World War II, a communist regime under Enver Hoxha came to power in 1945 (which later officially proclaimed Albania an atheist state on November 22, 1967). As a result, Bishop Eulogios was declared an "enemy of the state" and was deprived of his Albanian citizenship. [3]

By then he was already living in Greece where, parallel to his academic work, and together with Panteleimon (Kotokos), became the heads of the Northern Epirus Central Committee propagating that parts of southern Albania, known among Greeks as Northern Epirus, should be awarded to Greece.[4]

After having become a professor at the School of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1935–1937), he later taught at the University of Athens (1942-1949).

Bishop Eulogios reposed in 1961 in Stratonike, Chalkidiki.

References

↑His family name is cited either in its Greek form "Kourilas" or "Kurilas" or in its Albanian form "Kurila". His first name can be found spelled "Eulogios" or "Evlogios" in Greek, "Evlogji" in Albanian, or sometimes "Eulogio" in English.